Systems and methods for facilitating predictive noise mitigation

ABSTRACT

Systems and method are provided to facilitate predictive mitigation of noise. A vehicle may measure noise floor levels and transmit a noise floor signal to a noise signal aggregator. Based on the noise signal, the noise signal aggregator may update a noise floor map database. The noise floor map database may associate a plurality of geographic locations with a plurality of noise floor levels. Accordingly, the noise signal aggregator may update a noise floor level in the noise floor map database that corresponds to the location associated with the transmitted noise signal. The noise floor map database may then be queried to retrieve noise floor levels for locations further along a route traversed by a vehicle such that the vehicle may predictively tune one or more antennas to mitigate interference associated with the noise floor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/642,544, filed Jul. 6, 2017, and entitled “SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR FACILITATING PREDICTIVE NOISE MITIGATION.” The disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The following disclosure relates to systems and methods for facilitatingpredictive noise mitigation, and more particularly, for maintaining andutilizing a temporal noise floor map database to mitigate noise.

BACKGROUND

Currently, many vehicles contain various communications equipment tointeract with a control center and/or to provide services to passengerswithin the vehicle. As the vehicle traverses a transport network, thevehicle may experience a wide range of different network conditions thatinterfere with the communications equipment. For example, due to thevolume and density of communications devices within cities, vehiclestraversing a route proximate to a city may detect more interference thanwhile traversing a route in more rural environments. The interferencepatterns may be more pronounced for communications utilizing unlicensedspectrum within the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz bands. In some cases, theinterference may even be perceptible to airborne vehicles proximate to acity.

Modern communications equipment often includes tunable, or otherwiseadjustable, antennas capable of dynamic modification to mitigate theimpacts of interference. Accordingly, typical communications equipmentmay measure the noise floor surrounding the communications equipment andreactively adjust the antennas based upon measured noise levels.However, these techniques require the interference to first be sensed inorder to take the mitigative action. Thus, the interference mitigationperformance may be improved by predictively adjusting tunable antennas,such as antennas within a phased array, to mitigate the impacts ofinterference prior to the communications equipment actually experiencingthe interference.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method is provided. The methodmay include (1) obtaining, at a noise signal aggregator and at a firstpoint in time, a noise floor signal transmitted from an antenna fixedlyattached to a first vehicle, the noise floor signal indicating alocation of the first vehicle and a noise floor measurement; (2)accessing, by the noise signal aggregator, a noise floor map databasestoring a plurality of noise floor levels at a plurality of geographiclocations; and (3) generating or updating, by the noise signalaggregator, a particular noise floor level for the obtained location ofthe first vehicle by combining the particular noise floor level with thenoise floor measurement.

In another embodiment, a system for facilitating predictive mitigationof noise is provided. The system may include (i) a noise floor mapdatabase storing a plurality of noise floor levels at a plurality ofgeographic locations, the sets of noise floor levels including noisefloor levels corresponding to a plurality of cycle segments at theplurality of geographic locations; (ii) one or more processors; and(iii) one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage mediastoring computer-executable instructions. When the instructions areexecuted by the one or more processors, the instructions may cause thesystem to (1) obtain, at a first point in time, a noise floor signaltransmitted from an antenna fixedly attached to a first vehicle, thenoise floor signal indicating a location of the first vehicle and anoise floor measurement; (2) access the noise floor database to retrievea particular noise floor level for the obtained location of the firstvehicle; and generate or update the particular noise floor level bycombining the particular noise floor level with the noise floormeasurement.

In yet another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium storing processor-executable instructions is provided. Theinstructions, when executed, cause one or more processors to (1) obtaina noise floor signal transmitted from an antenna fixedly attached to afirst vehicle, the noise floor signal indicating a location of the firstvehicle and a noise floor measurement; (2) access a noise floor mapdatabase storing a plurality of noise floor levels at a plurality ofgeographic locations; and (3) generate or update a particular noisefloor level for the obtained location of the first vehicle by combiningthe particular noise floor level with the noise floor measurement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of an example environment capable offacilitating predictive mitigation of noise, as described herein;

FIG. 2 depicts an example environment including a vehicle, such as oneof the vehicles 105 of FIG. 1, measuring a noise floor of an geographiclocation, as disclosed herein;

FIG. 3 depicts an example noise floor map database, such as the noisefloor map database 125 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 depicts an example signal diagram in which a noise floor mapdatabase, such as the noise floor map database 125 of FIG. 1, is updatedbased on measured noise floor levels;

FIG. 5 depicts an example signal diagram in which a vehicle, such as oneof the vehicles 105 of FIG. 1, queries a noise floor map to predictivelyadjust an antenna phase array;

FIG. 6 is an example flow diagram of an example method for updatingnoise floor map database, which may be performed by the noise signalaggregator 120 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a noise signal aggregator, the noise signalaggregator 120 of FIG. 1, capable of updating and/or querying a noisefloor map database.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It should be understood that, unless a term is expressly defined in thispatent using the sentence “As used herein, the term ‘______’ is herebydefined to mean . . .” or a similar sentence, there is no intent tolimit the meaning of that term, either expressly or by implication,beyond its plain or ordinary meaning, and such term should not beinterpreted to be limited in scope based on any statement made in anysection of this patent (other than the language of the claims). To theextent that any term recited in the claims at the end of this disclosureis referred to in this disclosure in a manner consistent with a singlemeaning, that is done for sake of clarity only so as to not confuse thereader, and it is not intended that such claim term be limited, byimplication or otherwise, to that single meaning. Finally, unless aclaim element is defined by reciting the word “means” and a functionwithout the recital of any structure, it is not intended that the scopeof any claim element be interpreted based on the application of 35U.S.C. § 112(f).

As it is generally used herein, the term “noise floor map” refers to anassociation between a plurality of geographic locations and respectivenoise floor measurements. In some embodiments, the geographic locationsmay be particular geographic positions as defined by GPS coordinates,latitude and longitude pairs, and/or the like. In other embodiments, thegeographic locations may be sectors that incorporate ranges ofparticular geographic locations. In some embodiments, the geographiclocation includes an altitude component. In these embodiments, eachsector may be three-dimensional and the term “orientation” may alsorefer to azimuthal orientations in addition to spatial orientations.

A “noise floor measurement” generally refers to a measurement indicativeof an amount of interference detected by the measuring antenna(sometimes referred to as a “noise floor level”). The noise floor isfrequently represented in decibels (dB) and is indicative of the totalpower of all sensed signals other than one being actively monitored bythe antenna (e.g., a signal received from a base station). The ratiobetween the monitored signals to the noise floor is referred to as asignal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for analog signals, or a carrier-to-noiseratio (CNR) for modulated signals. It should be appreciated that unlessexplicitly described as such, any reference to just one of SNR or CNR isdone for ease of explanation and not to limit the described embodimentsto only analog or digital signals. Generally speaking, CNR is a measureof the quality of the communication channel. Accordingly, boosting thecarrier signal and/or filtering the noise signals generally improves thequality of the communication channel.

The noise floor levels may include measurements for a plurality oforientations. For example, a boat pulling into a harbor may detect ahigher noise floor level in the direction of the harbor than in thedirection of the open ocean. It should be appreciated that obtaining themeasurements for the plurality of orientations may be performed by anymeans known in the art. In some embodiments, this may include the use ofmultiple omni-directional antennas. In these embodiments, theomni-directional antennas may omni-directionally measure the noise floorlevels. In one embodiment, polar coordinates may be utilized representthe varying noise floor measurements for each orientation about aparticular axis (e.g., a heading of the vehicle or a north axis).

As described above, the geographic location may also include an altitudecomponent. In an airplane transport network, different types of aircraftmay be capable of having different cruising altitudes. Similarly, anaircraft that is landing at or departing from an airport proximate to amajor city typically has a lower altitude than an aircraft passing overthe city. As noise power tends to dissipate the further away an antennais from the source of the noise, lower altitude aircraft may sensehigher noise floor levels. In another example, the radio horizon forsignals sensed at the aircraft increases as a function of altitude. As aresult, higher altitude aircraft may be capable of sensing sourcesinterference that lower altitude aircraft cannot sense. Throughout thepresent disclosure, the noise floor measurements may occasionally bedescribed as being a two-dimensional measurement. However, any suchdescription is done for ease of explanation, and also envisions analtitude component that transforms the two-dimensional measurement intoa three-dimensional measurement.

In an aspect, the noise floor levels tend to vary throughout the day.For example, devices that emit interfering signals, such as Wi-Firouters or wireless TVs, typically are in greater use during theevening. As another example, the transport network may also include ahigher volume of vehicles in operation at various times throughout theday. These cyclical trends in the sources of interference may bereflected in the measured noise floor levels. Accordingly, the noisefloor map database may be divided into a cycle segments that illustratethese cyclical trends in the noise floor levels. In other words, thenoise floor map may be considered a four-dimensional map. The durationfor the cycle segment may be as short as a minute or as long as an hour,four hours, or even twelve hours. In implementations having shorterdurations, a vehicle may not measure the noise floor level at eachgeographical location for each time period throughout the day. In anaspect, these gaps may be filled in using interpolation techniques.

Additionally, the noise floor levels may vary over the course ofmultiple days, weeks, months, or even years. For example, as a cityexpands in population, the city may become more populated withinterfering devices. Thus, for cities experiencing growth, the noisefloor levels may exhibit a macrotrend of slowly increasing noise poweracross multiple cycles in orientations directed towards these cities.Similarly, some cities are strongly associated with tourism andexperience seasonal population shifts. Accordingly, the noise floordatabase may include a historic temporal component that captures theseshifts in the noise floor levels across multiple cycles. In oneimplementation, the historic temporal component may be combined toproduce the noise floor levels a noise floor map database returns whenqueried. In one implementation, a rolling average for all measurementswithin a fixed number of most recent cycles is utilized to combine thehistoric temporal components. In another implementation, noise floormeasurements are assigned weight values that decrease with each cyclesuch that older noise floor measurements influence the stored noisefloor levels less than more recent noise floor measurements.

In some embodiments, the vehicle may include a phased array of antennasto support wireless communications to other devices. Depending on theconfiguration of the antennas within the phased array, the formed beammay have different power characteristics at a plurality of orientations.To this end, the individual antennas may be tuned to place a null at afirst orientation to mitigate the impact of noise sensed at the firstorientation. Additionally, the individual antennas may be tuned to havegains at a second orientation in order to boost the signals sensed atthe second orientation. As described above, this tuning may be done tomaximize the CNR of the phased array by locating a null at anorientation associated with a relatively high amount of noise power andlocating the gain at an orientation associated with a device with whichthe vehicle is communicating.

Traditionally, the phased array on the vehicle measures the noise floorlevels itself to appropriately configure the antennas to improve theCNR. However, this requires that the vehicle first be subjected to theinterference in order to determine an appropriate reaction thatmitigates its effect. Given the high speeds at which some types ofvehicles travel, the delay between measuring the noise floor levels andadjusting the antennas may cause the gains and nulls of the phasedarrays to be misaligned with the interference patterns sensed at thevehicle. Thus, a vehicle that receives noise floor measurements inadvance of actually experiencing the interference can predictively tunethe antennas of a phase array to minimize this misalignment. As aresult, predictively configuring a phased array may improve the CNR ofthe communications supported by the vehicle.

As another benefit, in order to accurately measure the noise floorlevels, the phased array may not be permitted to transmit data whilemeasuring the noise floor. Thus, the noise floor level measurement cycle(e.g., a receive cycle) may be constrained by a fixed number of samplesthat can be measured between transmit cycles. Accordingly, if thevehicle is provided advanced knowledge of the noise floorcharacteristics that the antennas will experience, these fixed number ofsamples may be spaced at a greater frequency at orientations that have agreater impact on improving the CNR (e.g., regions in the noise floormeasurements with a higher rate of change with respect to orientation)and at a lower frequency at orientations that have less of an impact onimproving the CNR (e.g., regions in the noise floor measurements with alower rate of change with respect to orientation). Thus, in addition tothe alignment improvements, predictively receiving the noise floormeasurements may enable more precise beamforming techniques that furtherimprove the CNR.

FIG. 1 depicts an example environment 100 for facilitating thepredictive noise mitigation techniques described herein. The environment100 may include one or more vehicles 105. Although the vehicles 105 aredepicted as airplanes, it is envisioned that a vehicle 105 may be anyvehicle, for example, a bus, a train, a subway, a helicopter, a ship, asubway, a balloon, etc. Each of the vehicles 105 may be equipped with anon-board node (not depicted), such as an Auxiliary Computer Power Unit(ACPU), that supports communications external to the vehicle 105. Theon-board node may be coupled to a phased antenna array communicativelyconnected to one or more external communication links 107, 109 or 117.The external communication links 107, 109 or 117 may correspond to aparticular communication protocol (e.g., TDMA, GSM, CDMA, GSM, LTE,WiMAX, Wi-Fi, etc.) and/or to a particular frequency band (e.g., K_(a)band, K_(u) band, L band, S band, Cellular band, AWS Band, PCS band, anunlicensed band, etc.). Further, the phased antenna array may beconfigured to scan over a plurality of orientations about the vehicle105.

As illustrated, the vehicle 105 a is communicatively coupled to a groundbase station 108 via the direct external communication link 107. Theexternal communication link 107 may be an air-to-ground (ATG)communication link and/or a communication link associated with one ormore traditional terrestrial wireless networks (e.g., Verizon, AT&T,Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.). The vehicle 105 b is communicatively coupled toa satellite base station 118 via the external communication link 117.Unlike the direct external communication link 107, the externalcommunication link 117 may include a satellite 119 that acts as a relaybetween the satellite base station 118 and the vehicle 105 b.Accordingly, the external communication link 117 may include a firstcommunication link 117 a between the satellite base station 118 and thesatellite 119 and a second communication link 117 b between thesatellite 119 and the vehicle 105 b. Additionally, multiple vehicle 105may be directly connected to each other via the external communicationlink 109.

According to aspects, a noise signal aggregator 120 may becommunicatively coupled with the ground base station 108 and thesatellite base station 118. Thus, the vehicles 105 are capable ofcommunicating with the noise signal aggregator 120 via the externalcommunication links 107 and 117. For example, the vehicles 105 maytransmit, to the noise signal aggregator 120, a noise floor signaland/or a request for a set of noise floor levels for a location alongthe route being traversed by the vehicle 105. The noise signalaggregator 120 may respond to the request by transmitting the set ofnoise floor levels to the requesting vehicle 105. It should beappreciated that in some embodiments, the external communication link onwhich the request for the set of noise floors levels is sent may bedifferent than the external communication link whose noise floor levelsare requested. For example, the vehicle 105 b may transmit a requestover the external satellite communication link 117 to receive noisefloor measurements for a communication link within an unlicensed band ofspectrum (not depicted).

The noise signal aggregator 120 may also be communicatively coupled to anoise floor map database 125 associated with a noise floor map. Uponreceiving noise floor signals from the vehicles 105, the noise signalaggregator 120 may update the noise floor map database 125 to reflectthe noise floor measurements included in the noise floor signal. Forexample, the noise signal aggregator may calculate a rolling average forthe noise floor measurements such that the noise floor map database 125reflects changing historic noise floor trends. Similarly, upon receivinga request for a set of nose floor levels from the vehicles 105, thenoise floor aggregator 120 may query the noise floor map database 125 togenerate a reply that includes the set of noise floor levels.

In some embodiments, the vehicle 105 a may include an on-board noisesignal aggregator 121 and/or a noise floor map database storing a localversion of the noise floor map (not depicted). In these embodiments,noise floor signals generated at the vehicle 105 a are locally routed tothe on-board noise signal aggregator 121. Additionally, noise floorsignals from another vehicle 105 b may be sent to the on-board noisesignal aggregator 121 of the vehicle 105 a via the externalcommunication link 109 rather than to the terrestrial noise signalaggregator 120. At some point in time, the vehicle 105 a may communicatethe local version noise floor map to the terrestrial noise signalaggregator 120 to reflect the noise floor measurements received at thevehicle 105 a. To reduce network congestion, the communication of thelocal copy of the noise floor map maintained at the vehicle 105 a mayoccur less frequently than if the vehicles 105 communicated the noisefloor signals directly to the terrestrial noise floor aggregator 120.

Turning to FIG. 2, depicted is an example environment 200 including avehicle 205, such as one of the vehicles 105 of FIG. 1, measuring anoise floor of a geographic location. According to aspects, the routetraversed by the vehicle 205 may bring the vehicle 205 through a varietyof different environments. For example, as illustrated, the routetraversed by the vehicle 205 may bring the vehicle 205 proximate tocities 227. As described elsewhere, the cities 227 tend to be associatedwith higher levels of interference. Accordingly, when the vehicle 205measures the noise floor, the vehicle 205 may detect higher noise powerat orientations in the direction of the cities 227.

An example noise floor measurement 230 overlaid onto the environment 200illustrates this effect. The noise floor measurement 230 is a polarcoordinate representation of the noise floor levels for a plurality oforientations about the heading of the vehicle 205. In the overlaidgraph, the further the noise floor measurement 230 is located away fromthe vehicle 205, the higher the noise power sensed at the vehicle 205.Accordingly, the noise floor measurement 230 includes lobes atapproximately 45° and 225° that reflect the increased noise floorslevels associated with the cities 227. Of course, as the vehicle 205continues to traverse the route, the noise floor measurement 230 mayreflect the new orientations and/or distances of the vehicle 205relative to the cities 227.

Referring to FIG. 3, depicted is an example noise floor map database325, such as the noise floor map database 125 of FIG. 1. As depicted,the noise floor map database 325 includes a representation of the noisefloor levels 330 for two sectors at various times throughout the day. Itshould be appreciated that although the noise floor map database 325 isorganized by sectorized geographic locations, in other embodiments, thenoise floor map database 325 may be organized based upon latitude andlongitude or GPS coordinates.

In an aspect, the noise floor map database 325 also stores noise floorlevels 330 for a plurality of cycle segments. As depicted, the cyclesegment may be an eight hour period of time throughout the day. Itshould be appreciated that in other embodiments, the cycle segment maybe any appropriate length. For example, the cycle segment may be a onehour window, a minute window, or even a second or smaller window. Itshould be appreciated that in embodiments with shorter cycle segments,the noise floor levels for each geographic location may not beassociated with a noise floor measurement for each temporal component.Accordingly, these gaps may be filled in through the use ofinterpolation techniques based upon the received noise floormeasurements.

Turning to FIG. 4, illustrated is an example signal diagram 400 in whicha noise floor map database 425, such as the noise floor map database 125of FIG. 1, is updated based on measured noise floor levels. A vehicle405, such as one of the vehicles 105 of FIG. 1, and a noise signalaggregator 420, such as one of the noise signal aggregator 120 of FIG. 1or the on-board noise signal aggregator 121, may operate in conjunctionto update the noise floor map database 425. Although the signal diagram400 only depicts a single vehicle 405, alternative embodiments mayinclude any number of vehicles 405 in communication with the noisesignal aggregator 420.

The signal diagram 400 begins when the vehicle 405 measures (430) anoise floor at the current location of the vehicle 405. To measure thenoise floor, one or more antennas fixedly attached to the vehicle 405may be configured to periodically sense and/or determine the noise powerat a plurality of orientations about the vehicle 405. According toaspects, the period of measurement may be temporal (e.g., every thirtyseconds, every minute, every five minutes, etc.) or based on a fixednumber of slot cycles. Based on the measured noise floor levels, thevehicle 405 may generate a noise floor signal.

In addition to the noise floor measurements, the vehicle 405 may includeother information in the noise floor signal. For example,contemporaneous with measuring the noise floor levels, a locationingsensor at the vehicle 405 may determine a location of the vehicle 405.As another example, the vehicle 405 may generate a timestamp to indicatethe time at which the noise floor levels were measured. As yet anotherexample, the vehicle 405 may include a measurement by an altimeter inthe noise floor signal.

Upon generating the noise floor signal, the vehicle 405 may transmit(434) the noise floor signal to the noise signal aggregator 420. To thisend, the vehicle 405 and the noise signal aggregator 420 may becommunicatively coupled via one or more external communication links(such as the external communication links 107, 109 and 117 of FIG. 1).It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, the communicationlink over which the noise floor signal is transmitted may be a differentcommunication link than the communication link associated with themeasured noise floor levels. Accordingly, it is not necessary for thenoise floor signal 420 to be able to communicate with devices via themeasured communication link.

According to aspects, the noise signal aggregator 420 may extract theinformation included in the noise floor signal in order to appropriatelyupdate the noise floor map database 425 In one aspect, the noise floorsignal aggregator 420 may determine (438) a time at which the vehicle405 measured the noise floor. For example, the noise floor signalaggregator 420 may extract the timestamp associated with the noise floormeasurements.

In another aspect, the noise floor signal aggregator 420 may determine(442) a geographic location at which the vehicle 405 measured the noisefloor. As described elsewhere herein, the geographic location may, forexample, be a GPS coordinate, a latitude and longitude, or a geographicsector. In an embodiment, the noise floor signal may include anindication of a GPS coordinate, yet, in this embodiment, the noise floormap database 425 may be organized by geographic sectors. Accordingly, inthis embodiment, the noise signal aggregator 420 may determine ageographic sector that encompasses the received GPS coordinate.

Using the determined time and geographic location, the noise signalaggregator 420 may query (446) the noise floor map database 425. Asdescribed elsewhere, the noise floor map database 425 may include aplurality of noise floor levels corresponding to two- (or three-)dimensional geographic locations at a plurality of cycle segments.Additionally, each of the plurality of noise floor levels may beassociated with a plurality of historical noise floor levels.Accordingly, the query by the noise floor signal aggregator 420 mayretrieve the plurality of historical noise floor levels associated withthe time and geographic location extracted from the noise floor signal.

The noise floor signal aggregator 420 may then combine the noise floormeasurements from the received noise floor signal with the plurality ofhistorical noise floor levels retrieved from the noise floor mapdatabase 425. In implementations that utilize a rolling average tocombine the historical temporal noise floor levels, the noise floorsignal aggregator 420 may replace the oldest historical noise floorlevel with the received noise floor measurement to produce a new averagenoise floor level. In implementations that rely on historical weighting,the noise floor signal aggregator 420 may assign the received noisefloor measurements an initial weight and correspondingly adjust theprevious historical weight values. The noise floor signal aggregator 420may then update (450) the noise floor map database 425 to indicate thecalculated average noise floor level.

As described elsewhere, in some implementations, the cycle segment maybe of a short enough duration that for some geographic locations, notevery cycle segment is associated with a measured noise floor level.Thus, interpolation techniques may be utilized to fill in these gaps. Asone example, the noise signal aggregator 420 may determine a cyclicaltrend for noise floor levels proximate to the geographic locationassociated with the gap. Based on noise floor measurements at othercycle segments and the determined trend, the noise floor signalaggregator 420 can generate an approximate noise floor level to fill inthe gap. Accordingly, in implementations associated with gaps in thenoise floor map database 425, when the noise signal aggregator 420updates the noise floor map database 425, the noise signal aggregator420 may also update any values in the noise floor map database 425 thatare based on an interpolation of the updated noise floor value.Similarly, the noise signal aggregator 420 may also update any trends ormodels used as part of the interpolation techniques.

Referring now to FIG. 5, illustrated is an example signal diagram of avehicle 505, such as one of the vehicles 105 of FIG. 1, queries a noisefloor map to predictively adjust a phased antenna array. As illustrated,the vehicle 505 communicatively coupled to a noise signal aggregator120, such as one of the noise signal aggregator 120 or on-board noisesignal aggregator 121 of FIG. 1, that has access to a noise floor mapdatabase 525, such as the noise floor map database 525. Although thesignal diagram 500 only depicts a single vehicle 505, alternativeembodiments may include any number of vehicles 505 in communication withthe noise signal aggregator 520.

The signal diagram 500 may begin when the vehicle 505 transmits (530) arequest to receive the noise floor levels for a geographic locationalong the route being traversed by the vehicle 505. The request mayinclude an identification of the vehicle 505, a current geographiclocation of the vehicle 505 (including, in some embodiments, an altitudeof the vehicle 505), an indication of the current time, a velocity ofthe vehicle 505, and/or an indication of a particular communication linkto which the noise floor levels correspond. According to aspects, thevehicle 505 may transmit the request for the noise floor levelsperiodically (e.g., every second, every ten seconds, every minute, andso on), and/or in response to a trigger condition (e.g., when an averagenoise power exceeds a threshold amount, when the CNR drops below athreshold amount, etc.). It should be appreciated that the vehicle 505may transmit the request to receive the noise floor levels over adifferent communication channel than the one to which the noise floorlevels correspond.

Upon receiving the request, the noise signal aggregator 520 maydetermine (534) a time for which the noise floor levels should beobtained. In embodiments with shorter cycle segments, the time at whichthe vehicle 505 transmits the request and the time at which vehicle 505eventually receives the response may correspond to two separate cyclesegments. Accordingly, the noise signal aggregator 520 may determine adifference between the time the request was transmitted by the vehicle505 and when the noise signal aggregator 505 receives the request. Thenoise signal aggregator 520 may utilize this difference to determine thecycle segment for which the noise floor levels should be obtained. Insome embodiments, the delay involved in querying the noise floor mapdatabase 525 may also be a factor in determining the cycle segment forwhich the noise floor levels should be obtained.

Similarly, the noise signal aggregator 520 may also determine (538) ageographic location at which the noise floor levels should be obtained.According to aspects, the vehicle 505 will continue to traverse theroute from the time at which the vehicle 505 transmits the request tothe noise signal aggregator 520 to when the vehicle 505 receives theresponse. Accordingly, in order to obtain noise floor levels that areuseful to predictively mitigate noise, the vehicle 505 must not havereached the geographic location associated with the queried geographiclocation. Thus, based on the determined time and the velocity of thevehicle 505, the noise signal aggregator 520 may determine a geographiclocation along the route being traversed by the vehicle 505 that thevehicle 505 will approach subsequent to receiving the response from thenoise signal aggregator 520.

According to aspects, the noise signal aggregator 520 may then utilizethe determined time and geographic locations to query (542)corresponding the noise floor levels in the noise floor map database525. The noise signal aggregator 520 may then transmit (546) the noisefloor levels to the vehicle 505. Upon receiving the noise floor levels,the vehicle 505 may analyze the noise floor levels to predictive adjustone or more tunable antennas to mitigate interface associated with thenoise floor.

Referring now to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 depicts an example method 600 forupdating a noise floor map database, such as the noise floor mapdatabase 125 of FIG. 1. The method 600 may be performed by a noisesignal aggregator, such as one of the noise signal aggregator 120 oron-board noise signal aggregator 121 of FIG. 1. The noise signalaggregator may be communicative coupled to one or more vehicles, such asthe vehicles 105 of FIG. 1, as well as the noise floor map database.

The method 600 may begin when the noise signal aggregator obtains anoise floor signal transmitted from an antenna fixedly attached to afirst vehicle at a first point in time (block 605). The noise floorsignal may indicate a location of the first vehicle, a noise floormeasurement, and a time of measurement. In some embodiments, the noisefloor signal may also include a heading for the vehicle. Further, thenoise floor measurement may include a plurality of noise floormeasurements for a plurality of orientations. In one embodiment, thenoise floor measurement is associated with an unlicensed band ofspectrum.

At block 610, the noise signal aggregator may access the noise floor mapdatabase. The noise floor map database may store a plurality of noisefloor levels at a plurality of locations. The plurality of noise floorlevels may include noise floor levels corresponding to respectivelocations measured within a cycle segment. In an aspect, the noise floorlevels in the noise floor map database may indicate a plurality of noisefloor levels for a plurality of orientations. In one embodiment, theplurality of orientations are oriented about a cardinal direction. Inanother embodiment, the plurality of orientations are oriented about aheading for a vehicle traversing a route that includes the particularlocation.

At block 615, the noise signal aggregator may update a particular noisefloor level for the obtained location of the first vehicle at a cyclesegment including the time of measurement by combining the particularnoise floor level with the noise floor measurement. In one embodiment,updating the particular noise floor levels includes combining, at eachof the plurality of orientations, the obtained plurality of noise floormeasurements with the particular noise floor level at the cycle segmentincluding the time of measurement. In embodiments in which the noisefloor measurements are oriented about the heading of the vehicle whereasthe noise floor levels in the noise floor map database are orientedabout a cardinal direction, combining the noise floor measurements withthe noise floor levels may include normalizing the obtained plurality ofnoise floor measurements to be oriented about the cardinal direction.

In one embodiment, the particular noise floor level is calculated as arolling average of historical noise floor levels. Accordingly, combiningthe particular noise floor levels with the noise floor measurementincludes calculating a new rolling average based upon the noise floormeasurement. In another embodiment, the particular noise floor level iscalculated as a weighted average of historical noise floor levels. Inthese embodiments, combining the particular noise floor level with thenoise floor measurement includes associating the noise floor measurementwith an initial weight and decreasing the weight associated with atleast one historical noise floor measurement.

In some embodiments, the method 600 may also include receiving, from asecond vehicle, a request for a noise floor level for a location along aroute being traversed by the second vehicle. Responsive to receiving therequest from the second vehicle, the noise signal aggregator mayretrieve, from the noise floor map database, the set of noise floorlevels for a location along the route being traversed by the secondvehicle and transmit, to the second vehicle, the set of noise floorlevels for the location along the route being traversed by the secondvehicle.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example noise signal aggregator720 (such the noise signal aggregator of FIG. 1) capable of maintaininga noise floor map database as described herein. The noise signalaggregator 720 may include, for example, one more central processingunits (CPUs) or processors 752, and one or more busses or hubs 753 thatconnect the processor(s) 752 to other elements of noise signalaggregator 720, such as a volatile memory 754, a non-volatile memory755, and an I/O controller 757. The volatile memory 754 and thenon-volatile memory 755 may each include one or more non-transitory,tangible computer readable storage media such as random access memory(RAM), read only memory (ROM), FLASH memory, a biological memory, a harddisk drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD) disk drive, etc.

In an embodiment, the memory 754 and/or the memory 755 may store a noisesignal aggregation application 758 that is executable by the processor752. To this end, the noise signal aggregation application 758 mayinclude a set of instructions that, when executed by the processor 752,cause the electronic device to perform various functions describedelsewhere herein. For example, the noise signal aggregation application758 may include instructions that update and/or maintain a noise floormap database. As another example, the noise aggregation application mayinclude detecting a request for a noise floor level and providing therequested noise floor levels to a vehicle. The memory 754 and/or thememory 755 may further store other instructions beyond the noise signalaggregation application 758.

In an embodiment, the I/O controller 757 may communicate with theprocessor(s) 752 to transfer information and commands to/from the userinterface 760, which may include a button, a slider, a keyboard, a softkey, lights, a speaker, a microphone, etc. In an embodiment, at leastportions of the display device 759 and of the user interface 760 arecombined in a single, integral device, e.g., a touch screen.Additionally, data or information may be transferred to and from thenoise signal aggregator 720 via network interface 777. The noise signalaggregator 720 may include more than one network interface 777, such asnetwork interfaces that operate at an unlicensed band of spectrum, at anLTE band, at a satellite communications band (e.g., Ku, Ka, L, S, etc.).

The illustrated noise signal aggregator 720 is only one example of anoise signal aggregator suitable to be particularly configured tosupport the functionality described herein. Other embodiments of thenoise signal aggregator 720 may also be particularly configured tosupport the disclosed functionality, even if the other embodiments haveadditional, fewer, or alternative components than shown in FIG. 7, haveone or more combined components, or have a different configuration orarrangement of the components. Moreover, the various components shown inFIG. 7 can be implemented in hardware, a processor executing softwareinstructions, or a combination of both hardware and a processorexecuting software instructions, including one or more signal processingand/or application specific integrated circuits.

Of course, the applications and benefits of the systems, methods andtechniques described herein are not limited to only the above examples.Many other applications and benefits are possible by using the systems,methods and techniques described herein.

Furthermore, when implemented, any of the methods and techniquesdescribed herein or portions thereof may be performed by executingsoftware stored in one or more non-transitory, tangible, computerreadable storage media or memories such as magnetic disks, laser disks,optical discs, semiconductor memories, biological memories, other memorydevices, or other storage media, in a RAM or ROM of a computer orprocessor, etc.

Moreover, although the foregoing text sets forth a detailed descriptionof numerous different embodiments, it should be understood that thescope of the patent is defined by the words of the claims set forth atthe end of this patent. The detailed description is to be construed asexemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment becausedescribing every possible embodiment would be impractical, if notimpossible. Numerous alternative embodiments could be implemented, usingeither current technology or technology developed after the filing dateof this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:obtaining, at a noise signal aggregator and at a first point in time, anoise floor signal transmitted from an antenna fixedly attached to afirst vehicle, the noise floor signal indicating a location of the firstvehicle and a noise floor measurement; accessing, by the noise signalaggregator, a noise floor map database storing a plurality of noisefloor levels at a plurality of geographic locations; and generating orupdating, by the noise signal aggregator, a particular noise floor levelfor the obtained location of the first vehicle by combining theparticular noise floor level with the noise floor measurement.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein: the obtained noise floor signal includes aheading of the vehicle, and the noise floor measurement in the noisefloor signal includes a plurality of noise floor measurements for aplurality of orientations.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein: the noisefloor levels in the noise floor map database indicate a plurality ofnoise floor levels for a plurality of orientations.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein updating the particular noise floor level furthercomprises: combining, for each of the plurality of orientations, theobtained plurality of noise floor measurements with the particular noisefloor levels.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein: the plurality oforientations are oriented about a cardinal direction, and combining theobtained plurality of noise floor measurements with the particular noisefloor level further comprises normalizing, by the noise signalaggregator, the obtained plurality of noise floor measurements to beoriented about the cardinal direction.
 6. The method of claim 4,wherein: the plurality of orientations are oriented about a heading fora vehicle traversing a route that includes the particular location. 7.The method of claim 2, further comprising: receiving, from a secondvehicle, a request for noise floor levels for a location along a routebeing traversed by the second vehicle.
 8. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising: responsive to receiving the request from the second vehicle,retrieving, from the noise floor map database, the noise floor levelsfor a location along the route being traversed by the second vehicle;and transmitting, to the second vehicle, the noise floor levels for thelocation along the route being traversed by the second vehicle.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein: the particular noise floor level iscalculated as a rolling average of historical noise floor levels, andcombining the particular noise floor level with the noise floormeasurement includes calculating a new rolling average based upon thenoise floor measurement.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein: theparticular noise floor level is calculated as a weighted average ofhistorical noise floor measurements, and combining the particular noisefloor level with the noise floor measurement includes associating thenoise floor measurement with an initial weight and decreasing the weightassociated with at least one historical noise floor level.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, wherein obtaining the noise floor signal comprises:obtaining the noise floor signal for communications within an unlicensedband of spectrum.
 12. A system for facilitating predictive mitigation ofnoise comprising: a noise floor map database storing a plurality ofnoise floor levels at a plurality of geographic locations; one or moreprocessors; and one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storagemedia storing computer-executable instructions, wherein when theinstructions are executed by the one or more processors, theinstructions cause the system to: obtain, at a first point in time, anoise floor signal transmitted from an antenna fixedly attached to afirst vehicle, the noise floor signal indicating a location of the firstvehicle and a noise floor measurement; access the noise floor databaseto retrieve a particular noise floor level for the obtained location ofthe first vehicle; and generate or update the particular noise floorlevel by combining the particular noise floor level with the noise floormeasurement.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein: the obtained noisefloor signal includes a heading of the first vehicle, and the noisefloor measurement in the noise floor signal includes a plurality ofnoise floor measurements for a plurality of orientations.
 14. The systemof claim 13, wherein: the noise floor levels in the noise floor mapdatabase indicate a plurality of noise floor levels for a plurality oforientations.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein to update theparticular noise floor level, the instructions, when executed, furthercause the system to: combine, for each of the plurality of orientations,the obtained plurality of noise floor measurements with the particularnoise floor levels.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein: the pluralityof orientations are oriented about a cardinal direction, and to combinethe obtained plurality of noise floor measurements with the particularnoise floor level, the instructions, when executed, further cause thesystem to normalize the obtained plurality of noise floor measurementsto be oriented about the cardinal direction.
 17. The system of claim 15,wherein: the plurality of orientations are oriented about a heading fora vehicle traversing a route that includes the particular location. 18.The system of claim 12, wherein: the particular noise floor level iscalculated as a rolling average of historical noise floor levels, and tocombine the particular noise floor level with the noise floormeasurement, the instructions, when executed, further cause the systemto calculate a new rolling average based upon the noise floormeasurement.
 19. The system of claim 12, wherein: the particular noisefloor level is calculated as a weighted average of historical noisefloor measurements, and to combine the particular noise floor level withthe noise floor measurement, the instructions, when executed, furthercause the system to associate the noise floor measurement with aninitial weight and decrease the weight associated with at least onehistorical noise floor level.
 20. A non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium storing processor-executable instructions, that whenexecuted cause one or more processors to: obtain a noise floor signaltransmitted from an antenna fixedly attached to a first vehicle, thenoise floor signal indicating a location of the first vehicle and anoise floor measurement; access a noise floor map database storing aplurality of noise floor levels at a plurality of geographic locations;and generate or update a particular noise floor level for the obtainedlocation of the first vehicle by combining the particular noise floorlevel with the noise floor measurement.